Thanksgiving

Ahhh.... Thanksgiving Day! Well, the house is finally quiet so I can put down my impressions and memories of today. First - I remember those military families who are missing their loved ones - I've been through it twice and can't even describe the empty feeling. And also for the soldiers far from home and wishing for their families. I remember last year being in a complete shock with John leaving at 5 am on Thanksgiving morning as his R&R was over. And I am so thankful for our families who have supported us every step of the way!

But this year is a happy year - our last Thanksgiving in Kansas! We started our day with yummy Monkey Bread (easier than Cinnamon rolls and very tasty!) Then my wonderful husband went off to Wal-Mart to get a couple of things I needed. Big HIGH-5 for braving that!! :o)

One of John's soldiers who couldn't get home to Puerto Rico was going to join us for dinner, but his fiancee flew in to surprise him! We were very happy for him - and it took a little pressure off of Mrs. Must-Be-Perfect (that's ME!)

I made a nice 8 lbs. turkey - using a well-rated recipe from Allrecipes.com site - it was the JUICIEST, loveliest turkey I've ever had! In fact the gravy was such an affront to the wonderful turkey that I will have no turkey fears in the future :o) Served with tossed green salads, stuffing, and John's WONDERFUL French Bread Rolls To DIE For! Polished off with Smores Cookies. I also made a Lemon Chess Pie, but we didn't get into it today - probably this weekend if we can find some room in our tummies.

I wish I had taken pictures, but time waits for no mom to remember these things.

The weather is clear and very cold - our high was about 35, our low tonight is 17. Brrrr! so we are pretty much stuck indoors all day together. Katharine started running a fever last night and it continues today. Poor kid is bright pink! Nothing too serious, just a little virus. Just enough to make her tired and fussy. As for Grace and Joseph, I figured that I could have them do a bit of school work this morning to keep them busy. But in the real world it was actually total chaos all morning long and I didn't get the turkey in until an hour later than I wanted. Fortunately, John put "Home Alone" on the Netflix queue for this week, so we were able to entertain the munchkins - twice. The second time this evening ended up with everybody asleep - John on the couch with Katharine snuggled on his chest, Grace on the floor with a couple of pillows, and Joseph on the far end of the couch snuggled up. Well, except for me, I enjoyed the movie in the quiet house with just the warm glow of the Christmas lights outside :o)

Happy gobble-gobble day!!